« Tell me what you eat,
I shall tell you who you are. »
VEGETARIANISM
Environment & lifestyle
References
• Report One Voice
• FAO : Livestock’s long shadow
• WHO : Diet, nutrition and prevention of
illnesses
• World Cancer Research Fund
• California Livestyle Heart Trial
• Inter-governmental Panel on Climate
Change
• China Project
• Framingham Heart Study
Content
• Industrial breeding has devastating
consequences on the planet : deforestation,
massive pollution, climate change, misuse of
agriculture and crops, etc.
• 1 billion animals are slaughtered every week for
their meat : 900 millions are chicken, 24 millions
are pigs, 17 millions are sheep and goats, 6
millions cows and oxen
• Meat is one of the main causes of chronic
diseases and deadly diseases related to the
modern lifestyle
« I wish there were a way of consuming which
protects the planet and treats animals and human
beings as parts of Creation who deserve respect
and attention. »
Rajendra Pachauri, President of IPCC - Peace Nobel Prize 2007
(with Al Gore)
Farm Animal Voice, n° 171, Autumn 2008
The 4 angles
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Impact on the environnement
Impact on human health
Impact on society
Animal suffering
Breeding & Environment :
AIR POLLUTION
Breeding is the 2nd industry to produce greenhouse gases
(GHG - 18%).
It is more important than all forms of transport all over the
planet (13.5%).
Main GHG :
• CO2 = 9%
• methane (23 x > CO2) = 37%
• nitrogen dioxide (30 x > CO2) = 65%
• ammoniac (acid rain) = 67%
1kg of meat produces 36.4 kg of CO2
Breeding & Environment :
WATER POLLUTION
• 13 billions tons of effluent every year
• constant pouring of hormonal substances, antibiotics,
and many forms of chemical substances into the rivers
and underground water resources (water table)
• drains water resources : 8% of the global human
consumption
• 7% of the global potable water is used to irrigate the
fields to feed the animals
• 4 billion human beings are facing lack of water
Breeding & the Environment :
WORLD HUNGER
• 13 000 to 100 000 litres of water = 1kg of beef meat
• 2 to 4 000 litres of water = 1 litre of milk
• 2 400 litres of water = 1 hamburger (150 gr)
• 1 000 litres of water = 1kg of wheat flour
• 500 litres of water = 1kg of potatoes
Breeding & the Environment :
WORLD HUNGER
• 2007 : world production is 2.1 billion tons of cereals
• Half of it has been used to feed animals for their flesh
and milk, not for the 800 000 human beings who starve
• 90% of the world production of soya goes to the meat
industry (cattle)
• 1/20th of the production of cereals is used to produce
bio-energy
• 10kg of food are required to produce 1kg of beef, 1kg of
pork
Breeding & Environment :
GROUND & DEFORESTATION
• 1 hectar of cereals produces 5 times more proteins than
1 hectar used for meat production
• Breeding and feeding animals occupy 1/3 of emerged
lands, 70% of the global cultivated lands
•Cutting down of trees ! 20% of the rain forests in South
America disappeared in 40 years
• 3/4 of the land has become fields to produce hamburgers
• The other part of it produces soya to feed animals, not
human beings
Breeding, diet & health :
the logic of anatomy
• Human digestive tract measures up to 10 times their size
• the closest species to humanity, apes are all vegetarian,
or they eat very, very little meat
• the stomach of animals eating meat produces powerful
digestive acids, not the stomach of human beings
• human jaws and teeth are intended to chew vegetarian
food
Breeding, Diet & Health :
tragic consequences
• The WHO has declared a world health crisis in all rich
countries
• All studies agree : there is definitely a link between meat
and dairy product consumption with illnesses specific to
rich countries
• Heart disease, certain forms of cancer, hypertension,
coronary accidents, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, high
cholesterol, obesity, etc.
• The more that humans eat meat and dairy products, the
more they are sick
Breeding, Diet & Health :
tragic consequences
• WHO : heart diseases kill approximately 17 millions
people every year. They are the first cause of death in
Europe and the USA
• The consumption of red meat and dairy products is
responsible for absorbing a molecule potentially dangerous
- a sugar, Neu5Ge. Scientists believe that it is part of the
process that generates cancers and heart diseases
• The form of cancer related to meat consumption is
intestine cancer, the second most deadly cancer in rich
countries
Breeding, Diet & Health :
tragic consequences
1) WHO : Diet, Nutrition and Chronic Illnesses.
Illnesses which devastate the population in rich countries are
linked to their rich diet, characterised by a high proportion of
nutriments with an elevated percentage of energy from animal
origin, nutriments with a high level of fat, sugar and salt. The
WHO is warning the world : « The entire population of most rich
countries presents a high risk profile. It is urgent to take on
massive scale action. » The study pleads vigorously for a drastic
reduction in the consumption of meat : « It is recommended to
promote the production of vegetables and to put a limit on the
consumption of meat and dairy products. »
Breeding, Diet & Health :
2 studies without any ambiguity
2) The World Cancer Research Fund:
What is the link between diet and health?
« Studies confirm that red meat and processed meat are
causes for cancer of the intestine, and there is no
quantity of processed meat that would not increase the
risk. » The risk is so high that the Fund recommends
never eat processed meat, that is, bacon, ham, sausages,
and not to eat more than 300g red meat per week
Breeding, Diet & Health :
as a conclusion
« When we kill animals to eat them, they
end up killing us, because their meat (...)
was never meant for human beings. »
Dr William C. Roberts, chief editor of the
American Journal of Cardiology
Breedind & Animal Suffering :
the most terrible facts
• « the suffering endured by the animals are so extreme that
to eat these creatures, is like absorbing the abject sadness
which depicts their existence (...) We absorb nightmares at
breakfast, lunch and dinner. »
John Robbins, Diet for a New America, 1987
• « … many surgerical operations done to animals, such as
castration, amputation of the tail, horns, teeth, beak, toes, are
performed without any sort of anesthesia. »
Professor Ian Duncan - “The Changing Concept of Animal
Sentience - applied animal behaviour”
Breeding & Animal Suffering :
a spirit beyond common sense
• « The modern henhouse is just a production machine, which transforms raw
materials - food - into a final product - the egg - keeping in mind the maintenance
issues. »
Farmer and Stockbreeder, 1982
• « A pregnant sow is considered and treated as a precious mechanical element,
whose purpose is to produce piglets, exactly like a sausage factory. »
National Hog Farmer, 1978 (cité par John Robbins dans A Diet For A New
America, 1987)
• « Stop thinking that a pig is an animal. Treat it simply like a machine in a
factory. Plan its feeding in the same way as you would plan maintenance
operations. Consider breeding as the first step in the assembly line, whereas
trading is nothing else than the delivery of the final product. »
Hog Farm Management, 1976
Breeding & Animal Suffering :
one way ticket
• The European legislation from 2005 aims to protect animals
which need to be transported. But in 2008, the Animal Health
Survey declared to the Commission that « they noticed no sign
of improvement regarding the well-being of animals during
their transport, since the new rules had been validated ».
• According to the FAO, to transport animals on long distances
is the best way to spread infectious diseases. Infectious diseases
may spread easily and quickly on a large scale, but the stress
endured by the animals during their transport make them even
more vulnerable, subject to infections.
Breeding & Animal Suffering :
is a change possible?
• In the Rome Treaty from 1957, livestock is treated and classified as an
agricultural product. Today, the European Union recognises that they are sensible
beings; it is willing to forbid certain forms of industrial breeding, though nothing
has changed since, in the majority of cases.
• Cages for battery poultry will be considered illegal in the EU from 2012 onward.
They may probably be improved just with a few details such as a perch.
• « Even with the best conditions, animals prepared for human consumption suffer
at one point or the other during their existence (...) the Commission recommends
the suppression (in the USA) within 10 years, of all forms of intensive breeding
which would prevent animals from moving freely and normally. »
The Pew Commission, Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in
America, 2008
« Nothing can be more beneficial for
human health, or increase our chances
for survival on earth, than an
evolution towards a vegetarian diet ».
Albert Einstein